31 Memoirs You Have To Read

As much as we adore fiction, a good memoir really has a huge emotional impact on the reader, because it has the benefit of being true (unless it’s by James Frey, in which case, never mind). Whether it’s Maya Angelou or Tina Fey or Barack Obama, everyone has a story to tell, and it’s just a pleasure to be invited in.

The memoirists featured range from acclaimed poets to former slaves to humorists to rock stars. Their stories are engrossing, heartbreaking, unbelievable at times, and often hilarious. They’re honest and raw, inviting you to chew on their own highly personal experiences as you meditate on your own. They’re just filled with life.

Ahead we’ve gathered our favorite memoirs and autobiographies. Book reports are due next week, okay?

The basis of the Oscar-winning film from 2013, this memoir follows the life of Solomon Northup, a free Black man from New York who was kidnapped and forced into slavery in the South. It’s horrifying and hugely important.

Though not strictly a standard memoir — Orwell wrote about his own experiences in a fictionalized nature — this account of living on the streets and in shelters in European capitals is both entertaining in tone and humbling in subject matter. Your landlord may be hassling you about your overdue rent, but it’s unlikely you’ve ever experienced poverty like this.

This celebrated autobiography has some sections that are very hard to read, given the subject matter (racism, sexual violence), but it’s a literary touchstone for a reason. Full respect to the late, great poet.

Technically, this inspired the very meh Jimmy Fallon-Drew Barrymore rom-com of the same name, but the book has so much more going for it. The true love story here is Hornby’s devotion to the Arsenal football (er, soccer) club, written about so enthusiastically that it’s hard to not walk away a fan yourself.

As eccentric as Mary Karr makes her parents out to be, you’ll no doubt wish you knew them personally after reading this incredibly honest and wry account of growing up in small-town Texas. Karr’s lively language and Southern-fried quotes are a joy.

Long before he became POTUS, Barack Obama published this thoughtful memoir about growing up in Hawaii and Indonesia as the child of a white single mother and a Kenyan father he barely knew. It’s a moving, fascinating story, whatever your politics.

This follow-up to Mukiwa, Godwin’s story of growing up as a white Rhodesian, is engrossing on both a personal and political level. Godwin’s relationship with his dying father will have you choking back tears, while his accounts of president Robert Mugabe’s abuse of power will leave you fuming.

Let’s hear it for late bloomers. Julia Child’s lively tales of experiencing fine French dining for the first time, failing her final cooking exam, and living in Paris with husband Paul will have you booking the next Air France flight.

The poet and rocker chronicles her life in New York City in the late ’60s and ’70s, during which time she lived in the Hotel Chelsea, dated artist Robert Mapplethorpe, and connected with stars like Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin.

In case you missed out on the Reese Witherspoon film, here’s a primer. Reeling from the death of her mother and the breakup of her marriage, Strayed sets out to walk the Pacific Crest Trail. Gorgeous, riveting, and open-hearted.

Cahalan was a young reporter living in New York City when she was struck by a mysterious, debilitating illness with seemingly no cure. Her fight to regain control of her mind and body is inspiring, and an important reminder to never take your own health for granted.